The day ahead: Thursday

When U.S. retail chains report November sales, investors will learn whether they have gone far enough to protect profits against a weak start to the holiday shopping season.

Highlights:

* President Barack Obama holds a forum on job creation with U.S. business leaders to devise ways to combat double-digit unemployment.

* Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke vowed before taking office to follow in the footsteps of his storied predecessor, Alan Greenspan, but he will likely distance himself from the past when he testifies before the Senate Banking Committee in a bid to win confirmation to a fresh four-year stint at the helm of the U.S. central bank.

* At the Reuters Media Summit, being held in New York and London, we hear from Google President Global Sales Operations and Business Development Nikesh Arora and Take-Two Interactive Chairman Strauss Zelnick.